CT scans, which are administered more than 85 million times a year, are an important diagnostic tool, but just one can be equivalent to 200 X-rays. Some doctors warn that health providers are not considering possible consequences when ordering the tests. (Sandra G. Boodman,
1/6)

Even though Medicaid enrollees are more likely to be smokers than the general public, a study published Tuesday in Health Affairs examined state data from 2010 to 2013 and found wide differences in funding of cessation efforts. (Shefali Luthra,
1/5)

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Summaries Of The News:

Although the legislation is doomed to a veto from President Barack Obama, Republicans are eager to accomplish what they haven't been able to in the five years the Affordable Care Act has been law: getting a repeal measure on the president's desk.

CNN:
Paul Ryan's 2016 Plans Start With Obamacare Repeal Vote
House Speaker Paul Ryan kicks off the new year with an old Republican priority: repealing Obamacare. With the presidential campaign kicking into high gear, Ryan has said his 2016 plan is largely about drawing a contrast with Democrats and delivering a blueprint for the eventual Republican nominee to pick up and use as a platform once the party coalesces around a candidate later this year. (Walsh, 1/6)

The Associated Press:
House Vote To Send Health Law Repeal To Obama For First Time
After dozens of failed attempts to undo President Barack Obama’s health care law, the GOP-led Congress will finally put a bill on the president’s desk striking at the heart of his signature legislative achievement. Obama will veto the bill, and so the ultimate outcome will be the same as the many previous GOP attempts to repeal “Obamacare.” But Wednesday’s vote in the House will mark the first time such a bill makes it all the way to the White House. (Werner, 1/6)

The Hill:
House Poised To Pass ObamaCare Repeal
For the first time, Republicans on Wednesday are expected to send a bill to President Obama’s desk that would repeal most of his signature healthcare law. While the bill faces a certain veto, the vote in the House brings Republicans closer than ever before to dismantling the healthcare legislation that they say has failed the country. “With this bill, we will force President Obama to show the American people where he stands,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in a blog post on Monday. He said the vote would “immediately set a tone that represents a better path for our country.” (Ferris, 1/6)

Unlike his other proposals to curb gun violence, President Barack Obama's plan to invest $500 million in mental health care must come from Congress. The president told Republicans, who he says have been vocal in attributing mass shootings to mental health, that they should feel obligated to support it.

The Hill:
Obama Dares GOP For Mental Health Reforms
President Obama is pressuring congressional Republicans to make good on their promise to fix the nation’s broken mental health system, which the GOP has frequently blamed for gun violence. As part of his wide-reaching efforts to rein in gun violence, Obama on Tuesday called for a half-billion dollars in new mental health spending, taunting the GOP on their failure to pass a mental health reform bill since pledging to do so in 2013. ... "Put your money where your mouth is,” Obama said during an emotional speech at the White House. (Ferris, 1/5)

Roll Call:
GOP Sidesteps Obama Mental Health Proposal
Bypassing Congress on new rules for gun purchases, President Barack Obama Tuesday offered GOP lawmakers exactly what they have been asking for: expanded access to mental health services. But Republicans, angered by his unilateral actions, didn’t bite. Republicans have consistently pointed to mental health legislation in the wake of mass shootings, while Democrats focused on tighter rules for buying guns. On Tuesday, Obama proposed a $500 million investment in the mental health system. (Bowman, 1/5)

Modern Healthcare:
Obama's Actions On Guns Could Bolster Mental Health Bills Before Congress
President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced $500 million for expanding access to mental health treatment as part of a series of executive actions aimed at curbing gun violence. ... The White House did not elaborate on how the $500 million for mental health would be spent. A fact sheet states it would help improve access to care by increasing service capacity and the number of behavioral healthcare providers. (Muchmore, 1/5)

Even with different approaches, both Arkansas and Kentucky saw progress in low-income adults' access to medical care after expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, a new study in Health Affairs says. In contrast, Texas -- where Republican leaders have refused to expand the program -- saw far more modest gains in coverage and access.

The New York Times:
Better Health Care Access In Kentucky And Arkansas, Study Says
Low-income adults in Kentucky and Arkansas have had similar improvements in access to medical care under the Affordable Care Act, a new study found, despite the two states’ differing approaches to expanding Medicaid. ... The study, published in Health Affairs, found that Arkansas and Kentucky had significant reductions in the number of low-income adults without insurance from 2013 to 2014. (Goodnough, 1/5)

USA Today:
Study: Expanding Medicaid Aids Health Access
Poor adults in two states that expanded Medicaid saw much bigger improvements in access to health care than their peers in Texas, which didn’t expand the government insurance program, a new study says. The research shows that the uninsured rate dropped 14 percentage points more in Kentucky and Arkansas than in Texas. ... “The big message we found is an expansion — any expansion — makes a big difference compared with no expansion,” says lead author Benjamin Sommers. (Ungar, 1/5)

Los Angeles Times:
Obamacare Helping Improve Access To Medical Care For The Poor, New Studies Show
States’ Medicaid expansions through the Affordable Care Act are helping low-income patients access medical care and improving hospitals’ bottom lines, according to two new studies that add to growing evidence about the benefits of the health law. ... Researchers also found major gains in the share of residents who said they had a check-up in the prior year, which increased more than eight percentage points in both Kentucky and Arkansas. And they found sizable increases in the percentage of patients with chronic medical conditions who got regular care, which increased more than 6 percentage points in the two states. (Levey, 1/5)

Arkansas Online:
Study On Medicaid Expansion Finds Increased Access To Health Care
Low-income, non-elderly Arkansas adults were more likely last year than a year earlier to be insured and less likely to report skipping a prescription because of the cost, according to a study released Tuesday. The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, found similar changes in Kentucky, which, like Arkansas, expanded its Medicaid program. It found that both states appeared to make comparable gains in improving access to medical care when compared with Texas, which did not expand Medicaid. (Davis, 1/6)

The report, however, notes that the administration is moving to an automated system that might help with the problem. In other health law news, a study finds the Affordable Care Act has not caused employers to move workers to part-time status and has not discouraged people from working. Also 50,000 new enrollees sign up for insurance in Washington state.

The Wall Street Journal:
Health-Law Tax-Credit Payments To Insurers Questioned
The Obama administration wasn’t able to ensure that all tax-credit payments made to insurers under the health law in 2014 were on behalf of consumers who had paid their premiums, according to a federal oversight agency. However, the agency noted the Obama administration this year is moving to a new automated system that should alleviate potential problems identified in its investigation. The Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General is scheduled to release the report Wednesday. (Armour, 1/6)

The Hill:
Study: ObamaCare Not Shifting Workers To Part-Time Jobs
ObamaCare has not caused employers to shift workers into part-time work, according to a new study. The study, released Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs, examines the claim made by critics of the law that employers will make more people work part-time in order to avoid having to give them health insurance. The law mandates that employers provide health insurance for people working 30 hours or more per week. This had sparked reports that some employers would cut hours to avoid paying out insurance. (Sullivan, 1/5)

The Washington Post's Wonkblog:
One Of The Biggest Fears About Obamacare Never Happened
During the debate over President Obama's signature health care law, opponents warned that the law would discourage large numbers of Americans from working, force millions into part-time jobs and make it more difficult to find work. Three new studies released this week suggest that, so far, it hasn't happened. The new analyses are still early, since a key requirement of the law began to be phased in just last year, but they add to a growing body of evidence that, if the law has had any effect on the labor market, it's been a small one. (Ehrenfreund and Johnson, 1/6)

The Fiscal Times examines how even some politicians, such as Kentucky's new governor, who campaigned on their opposition to the federal health law are being pressured on Medicaid expansion. Also in the news, a forum in Kansas on the benefits of expansion and a look at the issue in New Hampshire's legislative session.

The Fiscal Times:
Some GOP Governors Flip For Medicaid Funds -- On Their Terms
Newly ensconced Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) last week backed away from his campaign pledge to repeal expanded Medicaid coverage for 400,000 low-income people in the face of the widespread popularity of the program. ... Now the new Republican governor is sounding a different political tune, declaring he will seek a waiver from the federal Centers on Medicare and Medicaid Services to reform the program in a way that better reflects his conservative principles .... Bevin’s decision is important because it reflects the changing posture of some previously recalcitrant Republican governors who rejected the Obamacare program but now are feeling pressure to find some middle ground between a full-blown expansion of Medicaid and a more limited approach. (Pianin, 1/5)

KCUR (Kansas City, Mo., Public Radio):
KanCare Forum Explores Conservative Path To Medicaid Expansion
If policy makers in deep-red Indiana can do it, so can their equally conservative counterparts in Kansas. That was the dominant – though not unanimously held – message at a forum Tuesday at Johnson County Community College, where the topic was expanding the Kansas Medicaid program to cover as many as 150,000 additional Kansans. Doug Leonard, president of the Indiana Hospital Association, told an audience of more than 300 people at the forum that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who is every bit as conservative as Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, was satisfied that Medicaid expansion in Indiana was fiscally sound in the short- and long-term. (Sherry, 1/5)

Wichita (Kan.) Eagle:
Medicaid Debate Creeps Closer To Kansas Legislative Session
Kansas lawmakers, health care officials and business leaders gathered Tuesday in Overland Park for a forum hosted by the Kansas Hospital Association in hopes of widening support for KanCare expansion before the 2016 legislative session starts Monday. KanCare is the Kansas Medicaid program, which provides insurance for people with low incomes or disabilities. The event mirrored a November forum in Wichita hosted by 14 health care organizations with the same goal: Convince Kansas Republicans to expand Medicaid. (Dunn, 1/5)

The Associated Press:
Legislature To Launch Session; Medicaid, Drug Abuse On Tap
New Hampshire's Legislature is opening its election-year session with plenty of political maneuvering expected to steer policy discussions. One of the biggest issues facing lawmakers when they get back to work Wednesday will be whether to continue the expansion of Medicaid, which has provided subsidized health insurance to more than 45,000 people since it took effect in 2014. (Ronayne, 1/6)

The move could prove radioactive in a Republican race entrenched in ideological purity, but Ohio Gov. John Kasich, in The Washington Post, says, "I didn’t care about the political implications. I mean, you can’t do that in this business.” In other 2016 election news, Republicans are pushing to allow insurers to sell across state lines. The catch: It's already in the health law. And the GOP candidates call for compassion in addiction policy at New Hampshire forum.

The Washington Post:
John Kasich Broke With The GOP On Obamacare. And He’d Do It Again.
[John Kasich] is in the bottom tier of presidential candidates, polling around 2 percent nationally, but he’s burdened by more than poor numbers. As governor of Ohio he made a decision to accept the expansion of Medicaid as part of Obamacare — a choice that brands him as a moderate or, worse, a RINO (Republican in name only). ... His decision, he knows, is a radioactive credential for a Republican seeking the endorsement of a base that wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act. As he would observe in a GOP debate several weeks later, “People have accused me of, at times, having too big a heart.” Why Kasich approved the Medicaid expansion — and how — forecasts the type of president he would be: sometimes compassionate and often cunning. (Zak, 1/5)

U.S. News & World Report:
An Obamacare Provision Even Republicans Can Love
Meet the unlikely champions of Obamacare: Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio. The Republican presidential front-runners, along with their trailing competitors, are all big fans of allowing Americans to buy health insurance across state lines, arguing that doing so would boost competition, resulting in lower costs and greater choice for consumers. Often, conservatives have framed such a plan as part of a replacement package for Obamacare. The thing is, such permission is already part of President Barack Obama's health care law. (Leonard, 1/6)

The Associated Press:
GOP Candidates Call For End To Stigma Around Drug Addiction
Republican presidential hopefuls called for a more compassionate discussion around drug addiction Tuesday, with emphasis on substance abuse as a curable disease, not a moral failing. "This is a national calling," former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said at the New Hampshire Forum on Addiction and the Heroin Epidemic. "We should be able to talk about this without all the stigma attached to it. We need to eliminate the stigma." (1/5)

Aetna is the second major insurer to leave America's Health Insurance Plans, or AHIP. The company's decision is viewed as a big blow to the organization.

The Wall Street Journal:
Aetna Leaves Health Insurance Industry’s Largest Trade Group
Aetna Inc. on Tuesday became the second major insurer to leave the health insurance industry’s largest trade group, a setback to the membership organization that was a major force during the crafting of the Affordable Care Act. Aetna, the third-largest U.S. health insurer, said it wouldn’t renew its membership for 2016 with America’s Health Insurance Plans, a national association with almost 1,300 companies. (Armour, 1/5)

Modern Healthcare:
Aetna Departure Delivers Second Big Blow To AHIP
Another top-five health insurance company is ditching the industry lobbying group as a new CEO attempts to right the ship. Aetna, which is in the process of buying competitor Humana, is not renewing its membership in America's Health Insurance Plans for 2016, a spokeswoman for the Hartford, Conn.-based health insurer confirmed Tuesday. This comes several months after UnitedHealth Group, the nation's largest insurer, made the same announcement and said its interests “are no longer best represented by AHIP.” (Muchmore and Herman, 1/5)

Politico Pro:
Two More Insurers Leaving AHIP
Aetna is leaving America’s Health Insurance Plans, the second major health insurer to leave the powerful K Street lobby group. Unum, a leading disability insurer with $10.5 billion in revenues last year, has also dropped out, POLITICO has learned. That’s a less significant blow since the company does not sell health insurance. (Palmer and Demko, 1/5)

In other news -

Bloomberg:
Health Care's $605 Billion Buying Binge May Slow In 2016
When it comes to dealmaking, the health-care industry defied belief in 2015 with $605 billion of takeovers. While 2016 may be a good year, it’s unlikely to beat that record. “We entered 2015 with what I would characterize as almost a perfect M&A environment: a generally stable economy, lack of volatility in the equity markets, low interest rates, tons of cash on companies’ balance sheets,” said Jeff Stute, head of health-care investment banking at JPMorgan Chase & Co. His firm is hosting its annual conference next week in San Francisco, where health-care executives flock to hold court with top investors. (Koons and Chen, 1/6)

An examination of the top 200 generic medications found that almost a quarter of the prices rose higher than inflation. And in Washington, big promises to curb prices fall short of reality.

The Chicago Tribune:
Generic Drugs: A Bargain Or Sticker Shock?
Generic drugs, normally a bargain alternative to name-brand pharmaceuticals, are providing some sticker shock of their own. Prices of generic drugs rose more steeply than inflation for 22 percent of the top-selling generics on the market, according to a recent report by the Department of Health and Human Services. The review examined the top 200 generic drugs, as ranked by Medicaid reimbursement each year between 2005 and 2014. A total of 869 drugs were in the top 200 list at least once during the 10 years. (Russell, 1/5)

STAT:
Washington Has Big Hopes, But Little Power To Negotiate Drug Prices
It sounds simple enough: Let Medicare negotiate drug prices and help bring down prices for consumers. With growing public frustration over the price of prescription drugs, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have made that idea a centerpiece of their campaigns, and congressional Democrats have been kicking the notion around in broad terms for years. (Nather, 1/6)

Sanofi-Aventis, a French pharmaceutical giant that had agreed to market and distribute Mannkind's Afrezza, pulled out due to slow sales. The move is another stumble in an already troubled history to bring the diabetes treatment to market.

The Wall Street Journal:
MannKind, Sanofi End Licensing Pact For Diabetes Medicine Afrezza
MannKind Corp. on Tuesday announced the termination of its licensing pact with Sanofi-Aventis in the U.S. for the development and sale of its inhaled insulin product Afrezza and signaled that it might look to sell the drug. Shares of the company tumbled 27% in midday trading. Over the past three months, shares have dropped 67%, including Tuesday’s decline. (Beilfuss, 1/5)

Los Angeles Times:
A Rare Stumble For Biotech Pioneer Alfred Mann
Over seven decades, billionaire Alfred Mann has founded 17 companies, including ones that help the blind see and the deaf hear. Along the way, he's built a fortune that at one point topped $2 billion, but in what could be his final act, the 90-year-old biotech entrepreneur has stumbled. His latest big venture, a treatment that lets diabetics inhale their insulin instead of injecting it, has been a huge disappointment. (Rufus Koren, 1/6)

Also, Valeant names a new CEO while 21st Century Oncology withdrew its long-delayed public offering.

The Associated Press:
Drugmaker Lilly's 2016 Forecast Misses Street Expectations
Eli Lilly has dropped a lower-than-expected 2016 forecast on Wall Street after wrapping up a year in which its stock soared above the broader market. ... Lilly, also known for the erectile dysfunction drug Cialis and its portfolio of cancer treatments, has been recovering from the loss of patents protecting key products like the antidepressant Cymbalta from cheaper generic drugs. (1/5)

The Associated Press:
Merck CEO: Eager For Deals, Strong Prospects For New Drugs
Merck's chief executive says the drugmaker is "raring to go" on deals this year, particularly for small and midsize acquisitions of companies or their experimental drugs. CEO Kenneth Frazier, speaking Tuesday at a Goldman Sachs conference of CEOs of health care companies in Boston, also said he expects more approvals and growing sales from new cancer drug Keytruda. (1/5)

The Wall Street Journal:
21st Century Oncology Withdraws IPO
21st Century Oncology Holdings Inc., the cancer-care giant that was recently embroiled in a Medicare billing investigation, on Tuesday withdrew its long-delayed initial public offering. In a regulatory filing, 21st Century Oncology said it had decided not to pursue the offering at this time. The company didn’t provide further detail. (Dulaney and Carreyrou, 1/5)

Bloomberg:
Valeant To Name New CEO As Pearson Hospitalized, WSJ Says
Valeant shares dropped 4.8 percent to $96 in late trading after the Journal report. Through Tuesday’s close, they had fallen 12 percent since Pearson’s hospitalization was disclosed on Christmas Day. ...
The drugmaker announced that Pearson was taking a medical leave of absence starting on Dec. 28, and that the company would be run by a team of three executives, including General Counsel Robert Chai-Onn, Executive Vice President Ari Kellen and CFO Rosiello. Valeant board members Schiller, Robert Ingram and Mason Morfit were tapped to oversee the executives. (Armstrong, 1/5)

Even though consumers have not fully embraced medical services via a smartphone, venture capitalists see the potential. In other news from Silicon Valley, the tech world is leading the charge on paid parental leave, but will it trickle down to the rest of America's workers?

Bloomberg:
Wall Street, Techdom And The Hard Truth About Parental Leave
There’s never been a better time to have a baby at Facebook Inc. Or at Netflix Inc. Or Credit Suisse Group AG. But as those and other big-name corporations expand paid leave for new parents, millions of ordinary Americans face a hard truth: they get no parental leave at all. Call it the baby gap. In most wealthy nations, getting time off to care for a new child is a given. But in the United States, generous parental leave -- indeed, any parental leave -- is reserved for a relative handful of employees. Just two in five U.S. companies offer paid maternity leave. (Green and Hymowitz, 1/6)

The government is looking to address issues that can impact overall medical care such as housing, food, personal safety, transportation and inability to pay utility bills. The project will fund up to 44 separate experiments over five years.

Kaiser Health News:
Feds Funding Effort To Tie Medical Services To Social Needs
The federal government has announced a $157 million project to help hospitals and doctors link Medicare and Medicaid patients to needed social services that sometimes have a bigger impact on their health than medical interventions. ... The goal of the “Accountable Health Communities” project is to find better ways to identify patients’ non-medical needs and connect them to available services in their communities. (Rovner, 1/5)

The Associated Press:
Medicare To Test If Seamless Social Work Can Improve Health
Doctors, community workers and social researchers have long recognized a link between the hardships of poverty and health problems. Now the government is launching an experiment to see if seamless social work can improve the health of vulnerable Medicare and Medicaid recipients, and perhaps even lower costs, by heading off emergency room visits and hospitalizations. (Alonso-Zalvidar, 1/5)

Modern Healthcare:
HHS Test Will Try Addressing Social Needs To Improve Health
The CMS Innovation Center announced Tuesday that it would explicitly test whether addressing the social conditions that affect health can lower healthcare costs and improve the quality of care. The effort reflects the government's ambition to shift the industry toward value-based payment models as well as an acknowledgement that social factors, not just the quality of healthcare services, determine the health of a community. (Johnson, 1/5)

Even though Medicaid enrollees are more likely to smoke than the general public, a study of state data finds wide differences in cessation funding and eligibility. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that e-cigarette ads are contributing to the surge in popularity of the tobacco product among American youth.

NPR:
Medicaid Programs Fall Short When It Comes To Helping Smokers Quit
Smoking is the #1 cause of premature death and preventable illness in the United States. And since one-third of Medicaid participants smoke, compared to 17 percent of the general population, you'd think the states would be all about helping people in their Medicaid programs to quit. But just 10 percent of Medicaid participants who smoke are getting medication to help them quit, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs. That's 830,000 people in 2013. (Shute, 1/5)

Kaiser Health News:
Gaps Remain Among States’ Medicaid Efforts To Help People Kick Smoking Habit
The 2010 federal health law has a provision that was supposed to make it easier for people on Medicaid to quit smoking. But in a number of states, it’s not, so far, having widespread success. That’s the main takeaway from a study published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs. The law says all state Medicaid programs have to cover tobacco cessation drugs — meaning they have to pay for things like nicotine patches, Chantix, nicotine gum or Wellbutrin, when patients are using them to try to quit smoking. But it leaves states relative freedom in how they go about doing so and what conditions they place on how the benefit is applied.

The Baltimore Sun:
Advertising May Be Fueling The Popularity Of E-Cigarettes Among Teens, CDC Says
Nearly 7 in 10 middle and high school students are exposed to e-cigarette ads, and that might help explain why the electronic devices are now the most popular tobacco product among these children, U.S. health officials said Tuesday. Results from the National Youth Tobacco Survey reveal that 66% of middle school students and 71% of high school students saw at least one e-cigarette advertisement in 2014. (Kaplan, 1/5)

CQ Roll Call:
CDC Sees Link In E-Cigarette Advertising And Use By Youth
Nearly seven out of 10 students in middle or high school were exposed to e-cigarette advertisements in 2014, according to data released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC Director Thomas Frieden said the amount of advertising exposure is a likely contributor to the rise in youth e-cigarette use. (Siddons, 1/5)

Concord Monitor:
Can There Be Too Much Cancer Screening? Concord Hospital, Sen. Ayotte Tackle The Question
With Concord Hospital’s new 3-D Breast Cancer Imaging as background and a new law co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte about insurance for mammograms as foreground, the complicated debate over how much cancer screening is proper came to town Tuesday morning. Ayotte’s legislation and visit to the Concord Imaging Center was prompted by a recommendation from the Preventive Service Task Force, an advisory arm of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. (Brooks, 1/6)

Kaiser Health News:
Heavy Use Of CT Scans Raises Concerns About Patients’ Exposure To Radiation
Jean Hanvik decided that enough was enough. When a painful intestinal inflammation flared in 2014, the 55-year-old benefits communications consultant balked at her doctor’s recommendation that she undergo another abdominal CT scan — her fourth in eight years. ... Hanvik’s questions about the necessity of a CT scan reflect a growing awareness of the potential pitfalls of diagnostic imaging, which in the past two decades has exploded into a $100 billion-a-year business. (Boodman, 1/6)

Reuters:
For Working-Age Cancer Survivors, Debt And Bankruptcy Are Common
One third of working-age cancer survivors go into debt, and 3 percent file for bankruptcy, according to a new study. Cancer care costs have increased two to three times faster than other healthcare expenses in recent years in the U.S., the authors wrote. The average monthly cost of a new cancer therapy agent is now $10,000 and can be as high as $60,000. (Doyle, 1/5)

And KHN reports on changes in some states that require hospitals to involve caregivers in discussions about sick loved ones —

Kaiser Health News:
Hospitals Required To Keep Caregivers In The Loop
Diana Matsushima cares for both her husband and sister-in-law full time. ... But when either ends up hospitalized, Matsushima said her role as their primary caregiver is often overlooked. She isn’t always included in the discussions at the hospital, and she sometimes leaves confused about how to best care for them when she gets home. ... Beginning in January, family caregivers like Matsushima could have a much different experience. A new California law, SB 675, requires hospital staffers to involve a family caregiver during the hospitalization and discharge process, which supporters say will improve patients’ overall health and reduce their chances of readmission. (Gorman, 1/6)

Advocacy group points to new evidence emerging that mercury fillings are leading to a toxic environment, but the Food and Drug Administration defends the procedure.

McClatchy:
Tests Suggest Mercury In Air At Some Dental Clinics
Alex Hummell says few dentists seem worried enough about invisible, odorless mercury to take the kinds of precautions needed to prevent everyday exposures. As the head of a Littleton, Colorado, firm that sells sophisticated equipment to gauge airborne levels of highly toxic mercury at industrial sites worldwide, Hummell has watched manufacturers of all sorts put their employees through strict training programs in which they don special equipment to avoid even tiny exposures. Then he walks into dental clinics and is dumbfounded. (Gordon, 1/5)

McClatchy:
Dental Group Defends Mercury Fillings Amid Mounting Evidence Of Risks
For decades, the American Dental Association has resolutely defended the safety of mercury fillings in the teeth of more than 100 million Americans, even muzzling dentists who dared to warn patients that such fillings might make them sick. ... But now, evidence is emerging of the potential consequences of the U.S. dental industry’s longtime reliance on mercury and its chief advocacy group’s determined crusade to fend off any and all challenges. (Gordon, 1/5)

In other dentistry news —

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Missouri's Poor Adults Could Receive Dental Benefits In The Coming Months
Low-income Missourians could receive dental care by April thanks to money collected from delinquent taxpayers last fall. Gov. Jay Nixon announced Tuesday the state will collect about $35 million through tax amnesty, a one-time grace period that stretched from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 for delinquent taxpayers. Though it didn't bring in the $60 million initially anticipated, there was enough to fund Medicaid dental care coverage. (Stuckey, 1/5)

The Associated Press:
Missouri Tax Amnesty Brings In $35 Million For Health Care
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon says the state's temporary tax amnesty program will bring in $35 million this year. Nixon announced the revenue figures Tuesday, a day before lawmakers are to convene for their annual session. Last year, lawmakers had assumed giving taxpayers three months to pay delinquent taxes without penalties would bring in about twice that amount. And they had budgeted $40 million of that money to expand dental care and increase the amount Medicaid pays health care providers. (1/5)

Meanwhile, in Kansas, mental health advocates see an opportunity to redesign the system after a state hospital loses its Medicare payments.

Minnesota Public Radio:
Large State-Run Psychiatric Hospital Risks Losing Federal Funds
Minnesota's second-largest state-run psychiatric hospital is at risk of losing federal funding over patient care and staff safety. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center could lose $3.5 million annually from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which gave the state a March deadline to come up with solutions. (Feshir and Crann, 1/6)

Kansas Health Institute News Service:
Mental Health Advocates Say Osawatomie Troubles May Provide Chance To Revamp System
Some mental health advocates in Kansas see a silver lining to Osawatomie State Hospital losing its Medicare payments: a chance to redesign a system they say was already strained and underfunded. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in December it would decertify Osawatomie, meaning the hospital no longer would receive about $1 million in monthly payments from Medicare to care for patients with severe mental illnesses. Federal surveyors pointed to what they called widespread security problems. (Hart, 1/5)

Miami Herald:
Florida Chief Insurance Regulator Kevin McCarty Resigns
After more than a decade as Florida’s chief insurance regulator, Kevin McCarty resigned Tuesday, nearly a year after he overcame a failed effort by Gov. Rick Scott to get rid of him. ... By staying in the job until May, just before the start of the hurricane season, McCarty said he’ll be able to review all insurance legislation out of the 2016 session that opens next week and make recommendations to Scott. McCarty did not disclose his future plans. He is considered a leading candidate to be the next chief executive of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), where he once served as president. (Bousquet, 1/5)

The Denver Post:
GOP Leaders Say No Interest In Moving Hospital Provider Fee From TABOR
A deal to move the state's hospital provider fee out from under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights' revenue cap appeared in peril Tuesday, a week before the legislature convenes. Republican legislative leaders said at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce breakfast they won't support the move, even if they're promised more money for statewide transportation projects as a result. (Bunch, 1/5)

The Tennessean:
Nashville Company To Pay $7.8M After Charging For Dead Patients
A Nashville company will pay as much as $7.8 million in a settlement related to allegations that it charged Medicare and TennCare for medications for dead patients. The settlement involves Nashville Pharmacy Services, which is based in 100 Oaks and specializes in dispensing HIV and AIDS medications, and majority owner Kevin Hartman. U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee David Rivera announced the settlement of the False Claims Act case on Tuesday. (Barchenger, 1/5)

St. Louis Public Radio:
Peabody Energy Will Forgo $70 Million Payment To Health Fund
Peabody Energy and the United Mine Workers of America have reached an agreement. The company will pay $75 million into the health fund this year, but will not have to pay $70 million next year. The fund covers about 12,000 retired Patriot Coal miners, many of whom worked for Peabody Energy. Peabody spun off Patriot in 2007. The company agreed to pay about $310 million into the health fund in 2013, as part of Patriot Coal’s first bankruptcy. This year Patriot filed for bankruptcy a second time, and Peabody sought to be released from its remaining $145 million obligation. (Altman, 1/5)

The Associated Press:
NY Senators To Examine Health Republic Failure
Two state senators plan to examine the failure of the insurance cooperative Health Republic, which got behind financially and shut down last year. Sens. James Seward and Kemp Hannon chair the Senate's insurance and health committees. They say their discussion Wednesday will include lead agencies, health insurers, providers, consumers and experts in the field and explore what went wrong and steps needed to avoid repeats. (1/6)

Reuters:
Virginia Politician Sues State Over Stabbing, Son's Suicide
A Virginia state senator whose mentally ill son stabbed him 13 times and then committed suicide has filed a $6 million lawsuit against the state and a community services board. ... Among other things, Deeds charges that his son, Austin "Gus" Deeds, was improperly denied treatment. ... Deeds became an advocate for mental health reform and introduced legislation to make changes in Virginia’s mental health system. The legislation, signed into law in 2014, established a framework to help ensure that psychiatric beds are made available for those who meet standards for temporary detention. (Robinson, 1/5)

The Wall Street Journal:
A Victory Over Obamacare
As early as Wednesday the House will vote to send a bill repealing most of ObamaCare to President Obama, and this may become a consequential moment, assuming Republicans are prepared to make an argument. Some on the left and right are dismissing the move as pointless because Mr. Obama will veto the measure .... The task now is to leverage Mr. Obama’s veto to hold Democrats accountable for their votes and the consequences. Liberal spin can’t disguise that the law is failing on every level other than expanding coverage—as if anyone ever argued that a new entitlement couldn’t reduce the uninsured rate. The huge premium increases and other disruption in the health-care markets that the critics predicted explain why the law continues to be so unpopular. (1/5)

Bloomberg:
Three New Reasons to Expand Medicaid
Some 3 million Americans who lack health insurance could gain coverage, if only their states would accept the Medicaid funding that the Affordable Care Act provides. Two years into Obamacare, the arguments in favor of extending this coverage have only grown stronger. (1/6)

Charlotte Observer:
N.C. Medicaid Reform Would Benefit Nearly 500,000
North Carolina has the opportunity to shape how we take care of our own, through Medicaid reform, passed by state lawmakers in September. The Medicaid Reform mandate passed by the North Carolina General Assembly puts the state on a tight timeline to customize our plan. The goal is to seek permission from the federal government by June 2016. North Carolina can negotiate with the federal government for a Medicaid waiver that is North Carolina-specific, that closes the coverage gap and takes advantage of $21 billion in federal funds. This does not have to be political. North Carolina can join the 30 other states who have expanded coverage. (Susan Fitzgibbon Shumaker and Allen Smart, 1/5)

Kansas City Star:
The Glacial Pace Of Progress On Medicaid Expansion In Kansas
About 150,000 persons in Kansas and twice that many in Missouri are believed to be uninsured because of the states’ failure to increase Medicaid eligibility to the threshold called for the in federal Affordable Care Act. But [Sen. Jeff] King’s presence and posture at the event — sponsored by local chambers of commerce, hospitals and businesses — signified a sort of progress. The senator is conservative on most issues and used to avidly oppose expanding Medicaid. But then Mercy Hospital of Independence closed because of financial problems, leaving the town without a hospital. “The hospital I was born in, the hospital my kids were born in, is gone,” King said. “I know Medicaid expansion is not a panacea, but my constituents would have other options if we had it.” (Barbara Shelly, 1/5)

Louisville Courier-Journal:
Medicaid Benefits Clear, Former Director Says
On Dec. 30, Gov. Matt Bevin repeatedly and, in his own words, intentionally, used the word “lie” to describe the representations of the administration of former Gov. Steve Beshear regarding the economic impact of Medicaid expansion in Kentucky. ... Gov. Bevin’s comments reflect either a grave misunderstanding or a deliberate misrepresentation of even rudimentary economics, about which no serious person can disagree. It is a simple fact that Medicaid expansion is an enormous economic win for Kentucky and every other state that has chosen to participate. (Emily Whelan Parento, 1/6)

The Wall Street Journal:
How Health-Care Bills Hinder Millions Of Americans
The adequacy of health insurance coverage – sometimes called under-insurance – pops up periodically, but the issue has taken a back seat to covering the uninsured and controlling health-care costs. Yet the number of Americans who have problems paying their medical bills in a given year runs into the tens of millions, a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the New York Times found. These are not only people who are uninsured, have low incomes, or are very sick. For many, their uncovered medical expenses affect their ability to meet other basic needs – such as paying for housing, food, or heat – or make it tough for them to pay other bills. (Drew Altman, 1/5)

Bloomberg:
Warning: You Still Need To Stress About Stress
Differences in life expectancy by education and income are increasing. And while differential trends in smoking and other habits partly explain the lifespan gap, it's mostly a puzzle. I suspect that a major factor is stress -- that prolonged exposure to stress has risen more among families of moderate income than it has among those of high income, and that the stress is literally killing people. A new study raises doubts about this hypothesis. (Peter R. Orszag, 1/6)

Concord Monitor:
Bills Alone Won’t Solve Drug Crisis
When the New Hampshire Legislature reconvenes today, the focus will be on how it handles the state’s opioid crisis. A special task force has wrapped up its work and proposed several bills. And while lawmakers have come a long way in acknowledging the problem, much ground remains to be covered. They should start by considering drug addiction itself – what the term means, how we understand it and what science tells us. A YouTube video titled “Everything We Think We Know About Addiction Is Wrong” made waves in October by condensing arguments from British author Johann Hari’s Chasing the Scream. (1/6)

The Washington Post:
The Market For Human Organs Is Destroying Lives
If you would be willing to ask a living person to sell his or her kidney to you, be aware that you enter a moral, social, ethical and political gray zone. While it may mean that you wouldn’t have to resort to organ waiting lists and dialysis treatment in the event of kidney failure, you’d be putting the seller and yourself at risk. (Nancy Scheper-Hughes, 1/5)